Be the One
Being a routine guy, most of my mornings follow a predictable pattern. I take lots of stuff for granted, and any given morning can stand as an example.
I roll out of bed to a warm house
First stop is the bathroom where a toilet flushes and sinkwater runs to rinse my face
I flip on a switch and the lights come on, as does the coffee pot
Our dog is fed from a ready supply and my iPad holds today’s news
That iPad lets me read some in the Book and a prayer guide helps me ready for the day as I orient my heart and soul to God
So much of what makes up any of my days I take for granted, but unseen hands have shepherded me along. I’m blessed because they took care of both bad water and good, and kept the power on and even delivered the news to my device.
Unseen hands
There are plenty of blessings we enjoy that are so common as to go unnoticed.
Think about times when you yourself have been in the hospital or with someone who was. Consider all the unseen hands that carried you and blessed you along your way. Really, we are surrounded by goodness disguised in normal workaday clothes. We see the docs and nurses, but they are backed by a crowd of cleaners and cooks, mechanics and techies, and many more.
An old gospel song from the 1890s got it right when it refrains,
Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your blessings see what God has done.
It seems everywhere I look I see the smudges of God’s fingerprints and the aroma of his followers. Once I get my eyes to focus on the who behind the what, I’ve been amazed how surrounded I am with thanksworthy stuff. It’s like in our ordinary days, the extraordinary stands just out of sight.
You and I are carried along by the blessings of God and the work on our behalf of both seen and unseen hands. When we recognize this, negatives shrink to their appropriate size, and we can see through the dust of our situation how blessed we truly are. These are so ordinary we can forget to remember to be thankful, acting almost like we deserve the goodness we enjoy.
The Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life are filled with ordinary days when the curtain parts and the extraordinary steps through. One story Luke recounts has Jesus and the crew traveling south from Galilee to Jerusalem. Just a road trip. Nothing special. Listen to it again.
It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Taking a good look at them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus’ feet, so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus said, “Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?” Then he said to him, “Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you.”
All ten were healed. One got the larger point. Embedded in this account is an important truth: Blessings, whether delivered by unseen hands or the miraculous, deserve to be seen, recognized for what they are, and thanked.
Have you ever wondered about that one guy who stopped and came back?
As a leper, he lived his days excluded from normal social interactions. How did that inform how he saw himself?
Was he by nature a “thanks” man, or as he walked and his skin cleared up was he overwhelmed with what just happened and had to return?
Did he continue to notice goodness around him and express thanks, or was this a one-off?
What might his life look like going forward?
I’d like to believe this recognition of blessing set him on a whole new course as a thankful man who affected others. And I’d also like to believe the same can be true of us if we routinely become a thanks man or a thanks woman. And thankfulness is contagious.
We stand surrounded by the blessings of a good, free country. Everyday blessings flow to us from all sides. Even with the divisions among us that seem to constantly widen, there is so much to be thankful for. Consider turning down criticism and skepticism and up your thanks effort to folks, often unseen, doing work for you:
The check-out clerk and food server, the mail carrier and the road construction flagger, the pastor and policeman writing your ticket, the gas jockey and the school teacher not to mention the crossing guard.
We are surrounded by unseen hands blessing us throughout our day, and it’s all gravy. Undeserved yet constantly coming. Take the moment to point out their effort and thank them for their work and that it’s appreciated.
Then, take a long look at your life and be the ONE who returns to Jesus. As hard as you life might be, there is still so much to be thankful for, so fall at his feet and thank him for all he has brought your through and for the future he promised that is as sure as the dawn to come.
Consider a very short list of what is yours because of God’s delight in you, not earned but lavished on you graciously.
Loved enough that Jesus became a man and pitched his tent among us.
Brought from darkness into the light by invitation.
Given a new identity and position as a child of God, adopted and given an inheritance beyond measure.
Day after day chances to walk in sync with Jesus, building his kingdom through love and service to others.
EVERY MORNING AND ALL THROUGH THE DAY. Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Thanks for that, old songwriter I never met.
Be the ONE. Today. Right now.
Listen to Psalm 107
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. For his loyal love is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
Here’s an idea: Consider becoming a “Thanks Machine” where you choose to see the good and God in any situation, and then “say so.” It’s contagious! It changes the temperature in the room, especially when it’s more than just a toss-off phrase but more of stopping and noticing a good done for you. It highlights the good around you and lifts others up along the way. The lowest hanging fruit is negativity. Flip that on its head, beginning…now.
Let all that begin with stopping and noticing God’s hand in your day, and be the one who returns. From that will naturally flow the same to others.
“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”
-Meister Eckhart
Be the ONE who returns…again today
Music is good for any day
Bad joke? Sure, whatever.
Doug went to the eye doctor for an examination because he was having trouble reading the newspaper.
“Now that you’re over 40,” the doctor told him, “you’ve developed a condition called ‘presbyopia,’ in which the lens of your eye can no longer focus as well as it used to.”
Seeing his worried look, the doctor tried to be upbeat. “Congratulations!” he said. “You’re now officially a presbyope!”
Doug leaned over and asked seriously, “If that means I’m no longer a Roman Catholic, do I still have to go to Confession?”
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An old man, whose only son was in San Quentin Penitentiary, didn’t have anyone to dig his garden to plant his potatoes. So he wrote to his son about his predicament.
The son sent the reply, “For HEAVENS SAKE, don’t dig the garden up, that’s where I buried the guns!!!”
At 3 am the next morning, a dozen police officers turned up and dug the garden for 3 hours, but didn’t find any guns.
Confused, the man wrote to his son telling him what had happened, asking him what he should do now.
The son sent the reply: “NOW plant the potatoes!”